April Showers

 April showers is the new challenge ag Shopping Our Stash. It's an easy one this fortnight, rain, umbrella, puddles, clouds maybe a baby or wedding shower card, lots of choices. 

I do love my House Mouse staaps I'm sure this is one of the first ones I bought, it a wood block stamp and I do love the feel of the block in my hand, although cling mount are easy to restamp when you mess up. It took me a while go get this done, I had everything but the sentiment picked out, sat and coloured the image and realized I had maid a very noticeable error on the flower, gave a big sigh and stamped another (badly) third stamping went well as did the colouring and it went faster than the first try. The raindrops winked with stella. The patterned paper is from Dollarama and amazingly good weight too. 

I haven't finished the inside of the card although I saved a scrap of the patterned paper for the inside and I can decide what kind of sentiment to use as this could be a get well or a thinking of you card and by leaving it blank you can just write your own words. 

I am entering this in:

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge ~~ Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to check out the Main Blog and see what April Showers the rest of the team have made. 

L is for Layers....

 Well it's a late Easter this year but at least the weather is not too bad here in South Western Ontario except it is really windy, It's nice to see the trees budding and my daffodils will be out in full bloom soon. It's also time for a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. Here is Edna in her layers to announce the challenge. 

Interesting visual for the challenge. An now here is my take on the challenge.

The stamps I used are from a free Sale a bration set a few years ago the road island red chicken hadn't seen ink yet, she was a tad fun to fussy cut and ended up with one leg so just stamped the feet on the background and glued the body down on that spot, the rest of the chickens were popped up. The embossing folder is from Sizzix (Stampin'up) Colours are Riding hood red, black and crumb cake.

Couldn't decide on a sentiment, but did add the egg stamp and sentiment both from the same set. 

I'm adding this to:

Let's Squash It ~~ Challenge #19 without geometry life is pointless. 

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out the Layers projects the rest of the design team have made. 

Happy Spring Equinox!!!

 What a beautiful day here in SWO for the first day of Spring, sunny and getting warmer, I guess you would think I would be creating sunshine filled floral cards in bright colours.......nope had to try a new Fun Fold, (should call it a NOT fun fold) as when I saw Color Hues Black and White challenge I had my paper already picked and when I saw the fun fold I knew it worked for it. So here is my new fun fold card.

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The fold is called and Arrow card fold and here is the video, It is an A2 size card, I have seen several other ones for different sized Arrow Fold cards too. I'm sure my problem with my card was the 110 pound black cardstock base it was too heavy but I thought since it was a single layer it needed more stability. 

The paper I sued was from a Black & White 12X12 paper pad I bought many years ago at Dollarama I think it was the first one I ever saw there and it has some great designs. My leaf die cuts are just a couple of dies I had in my stash and the flower is from the Eyelet Outlet and brads. The black rhinestone from my halloween stash.

Open side view of how the inside is done.

I am adding this to:

Color Hues Challenge ~~ #14 Black & White

I love a black and white challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by on this the first day of Spring enjoy the beautiful weather, the days are getting longer now and it's my favourite time of the year. 

Q is for QUEEN at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

For this fortnight at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers it's Q is for Queen.  Still having a lot of trouble with crafting, I have tried working with colour challenges, sketch challenges of course the design team challenges and it still takes me so long to get motivated to even start. I'm hoping for a nice sunny, dry road day to take a bit of a road trip,  The lockdown has eased here in Oxford. restaurants have limited capacity, I went to my fav. Vietnamese restaurant the other day and it was limited to 8 patrons at one time. It's been almost two months since there has been eating in, and going  in to most stores. 

I used a sketch from Mojo Monday (not the current one) it fit my image to the T and I could add some "homestead decor" to the card.  Background is Versafine Sepia ink on crumb cake using the Stampin'up hardwood background stamp, the smaller crumb cake rectangle was embossed with honeycomb textured impressions. The stamp set I used is Hey Chick it was a free Sale-A-bration set. The gingham patterned paper is from a Kitchen 12 X 12 paper pad I bought many years ago when I was joining a recipe card swap. Half the sentiment is from a Gina Marie Chicken sentiment set but didn't fit the design so computer generated it. 

The sentiment is from the Hey Chick stamp set, I have no idea why I tucked it away and never used it, I got it in 2017. Rest assured I'm going to be playing with this one a lot more. The set is coming out of the vault with a second set and dies. 

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out the awesome Queen projects my teamies have made. 

O is for Ocean at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Here I am a week late for the challenge, it's been a comedy of errors trying to get this one done,  I have worked on it for days it seems, I went to put it together on Friday and I had used the Ocean background intended for this card, I had to make a new one, well you know it needs time to dry and at the lake where it is humid it took over 12 hours to dry.  So with that done this morning I started early and got the card done guess what.......no internet, no phone line either. Neighbour called Bell it will be Wednesday, (never mind what I'm thinking) I called the internet provider, said the wait time was 45 minutes so left my number to call back, two hours later I phoned them back, not very happy. You would think this was my first rodeo by the way she talked to me, anyway long story short appointments made for NEXT weekend (had trouble with her accent) and when I heard $175.00 charge I cancelled the two or three appointments I think I might have had.  Got busy and fixed it myself. By then it was well after 3, so now I'm ready to show you my Ocean card.

Last week I coloured and fussy cut the images sadly one crab had a bit of an accident which I have ingeniously covered up and the eye surgery worked too.  I'm rather impressed with this ocean background it's much better than the original. 

The sentiment was the genius from one of my sistahs and stamped with a timy alpha from Studio G.

Close up of the slightly snarky sentiment (thanks Lindsey)

The look of astonishment one the other ocean critters is priceless.

Thanks for stopping by today and looking forward to your ocean creations you have until Friday at 11.59 to enter at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

Is It Summer Yet???????

After the Winter Blues Shopping Our Stash is wondering if it's SUMMER yet?  For this fortnight we want to see you use something summer/bright and cheery/warm on your project.  Since I make Christmas/Winter cards all year long it's really hard to switch gears to make a summer card but with the help of my dear friend Maxwell I got it together.

Of course I used a stamp from my favourite company, House Mouse Designs,  The patterned paper is from a DCWV 4 1/2 X 6 pack I have had so long I have no idea when or where I bought it, it's probably somewhere 5 to 10 years old. I have 7 different packs for all occasions even Halloween.

I added several coats of wink of stella to the beach ball to give it  some sparkle.

The inside just waiting for a sentiment, I decided to leave it "generic" although I usually send more Birthday cards.

I'm adding this to:

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge ~~ Anything goes.

Thanks for visiting today, head over to the main blog and see what "summer" creations the rest of the design team has made. 

Shopping Our Stash #390 ~~ Fabulous February!!

Mimi is the hostess for the Fabulous February challenge at Shopping Our Stash and she wants to see something inspired by February's stone (Amethyst) or February's Flowers (Violet or Iris)  I chose to go with Flowers and used a very old Flourishes Violet image, one of my favourites as it can be used for any occasion.

The image was coloured with alcohol markers and die cut with stitched square, I fussy cut around the leaves to have them hanging off the square. Layered on purple lacy square then on a white lacy square. Everything on this card (with the exception of the white) is many years old.

A different angle to show how the image layer is elevated. 

The inside doesn't have a sentiment as I will put this in the "generic" stash as it can be used for many occasions.

I would like to enter this in:

Just us Girls ~~ Photo Week 476 

Thanks for stopping by today and check out what the rest of the design team have made for Fabulous February.

Challenge #387 at Shopping Our Stash is ~~ Inspired by Quilting.

January 26th is Visit your Local Quilt Shop Day so here at Shopping Our Stash we want you to be inspired by Quilting.  I have done some quilting, not huge queen size quilts but some place mats and a purse.  I really dug deep into my stash for a lattice sizzix die, I can't remember when I used it last and the patterned paper is a couple of years old. It has been so long since I have crafted anything,  things got a little busy over Christmas, some "bugs" and I had a lot of trouble getting back into the swing of the challenges.  I am so happy that I could join the rest of the design team for the challenge.

Very simple way to make a quilt card, I die cut the lattice and glued it to the patterned paper and embossed it, layered on early expresso glued it to pink which I machine stitched it to the expresso layer. This is a 5 1/4 inch square card. 

Close up of the embossing and the hello which is from the playing around with new dies bucket.

The above card was my Plan B since I had not located the Gina Marie Quilt Die that I planned using, Murphy's Law says as soon as you finish the project you will find what you were looking for and I found it, since coming home from the summer at the cottage I haven't managed to get everything in the proper place. So here is my plan A.

So many possibilities with this die, I decided to go with neutrals and I made two.

I used some ancient double sided paper from Stampin'up long retired

Just to show the difference when you reverse the patterned papers.

I'm enter this in:

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything goes.

I hope I have inspired you to join the challenge at Shopping Our Stash, I'm looking forward to seeing your Quilted project.

At Shopping Our Stash for this week we have an Inspiration Quote!!

This week's challenge at Shopping Our stash is an Inspiration  Quote from Jackie Kennedy.

I love white and pearls but decided to add a colour.

The card is 4 X 6 inches as the die cut is 3 X 5 and I used foam core to cut the lovely die, it was an adventure to get all the pieces poked out. The main image is elevated with some fun foam. And I used pearls as per the quote. I have left this as another generic card for my stash.

A simple "smile" die cut for the front.

Close-up showing the pearls.

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the Main Blog and check out what the rest of the design team was inspired by.

Quit Buggin' Me!!!

Challenge 369 at Shopping Our Stash is "quit buggin'me" ~~ use an insect on your card. What an easy challenge Donna thought up, I guess it's because she didn't want anything too stressful after her holidays, LOL.  I had a few ideas for the challenge and threw a few more odds and ends into my bag going back to the lake this week, my image was a digital image already printed and I have no clue who's it is, I have had it in a stack of images at the lake since May, I knew it would be handy for something.

I coloured the image with spica glitter pens (wasn't taking a chance colouring something this small with copics) the background I smooshed three shades of distress oxide ink on the teflon mat spritzed with water and had fun dabbing the cardstock in it until I liked it, then had to wait for it to dry (note to self~~do the smooshing first) The background die is 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 so covered the card I used foam core to cut it out, and it was fun getting to cut all the way through but I managed. it just gives a finished look which you can't really tell in the picture. 

Since insects are the name of the game I used butterflies but better yet I used the mini lady bug brads I bought from the Eyelet outlet Store. Aren't they just the cutest. (there are also bees too)

I didn't finish the inside yet as it's always great to have one or two around that can be used for any occasion that comes up that you need a quick card.

Thanks for visiting today and check out What's buggin' the other girls....head over to the Main Blog.

Challenge 361 at Shopping Our Stash ~~ Geometric Patterns.

Canada Day is over it sure was a hot one!!! Happy July 4th to my U.S. friends and family (tomorrow). Chris. is the hostess with the mostest unusual challenges....Geometric Patterns, as I packed for the cottage for the long weekend I was tossing anything in my bag of "tricks" that I thought I might use (it's an hours drive if I forget something) and on thing I packed was a Gina Marie flower quilt die, I've had it for a long time and so happy I had it on board for the challenge as I had forgotten what the challenge was and when I got to the cottage I had no internet, so this edition of Shopping Our Stash is coming to you with the help of the wi-fi at Wendy's, Simcoe.

I have it sort of a generic card but I know I have 4 birthdays coming up next week. the quilt die is from Gina Marie and I'm sure I've had it for going on  a year and it's never been out of the package. Die cut it in some double sided paper and again in black, attached the black die with double sided tape to a back piece (would have been easier with a lighter colour) then paper pieced the design. A simple plastic dot for decoration, the layer is the reverse side of the patterned paper. Now I've used it I want to make more.

Finished inside waiting for a sentiment.

Thanks for visiting today and head over to the Main Blog and check out the geometric patterns the rest of the design team have made for the challenge.

Challenge #359 at Shopping Our Stash ~~ She's a Crafting Machine!!!

Mimi want's us to be Crafting Machines for challenge #359 at Shopping Our Stash, so get out those die cutting machines and dies, sewing machines, zyron perhaps your embossing machine to make a project for the challenge. This was an easy challenge, the hardest part was figuring  out what I was using. I'm at the cottage and my sewing machine is a very small one, just does one stitch and I really need practice with it, so I used my big shot and a couple of dies.

I used Elizabeth Craft Designs scalloped frame, Elizabeth Craft Design Stitched ovals and a generic butterfly die. Pearls from my stash I added to the butterflies and flowers.

Close up of the butterflies and other die cuts. I did leave the inside blank as I need a few "can be used for any occasion" cards on hand and I think this fits the bill.

If you haven't been to the Main Blog head over and check out what the rest of the design team have used for their crafting machines. Everything I used I've had for at least a year even the cardstock.

thanks for visiting and I'm looking forward to commenting on your projects for our challenge.

2018 Stamping for Autism Awareness Blog Hop

I can't believe I just found  out about this blog hop, I have participated  in it other years but I'm not too late yet there is still 3 days left on the ticker.  I really used up a lot of pieces that were just laying around. Everything on this card came from making other cards.

The "wild flowers" were cut out of a scrap of stardream paper, The sponged  layer was  a white scrap I used three colours of DI ink, the navy layer was also a scrap, And lastly the teal base was just sitting on the pile and I thought ooh that picks up a colour in the sponged piece and I even spattered it with water with some success. I have not put a sentiment on it as I need a few cards for anything that might just pop up. 

Semi finished inside with the last of the wild flower die cuts. I really like having some cards available that can be used for any occasion and this fits that criteria. 

I'm entering this in 

2018 Stamping for Autism Blog Hop

Thanks for visiting today and check out the Blog Hop you have time to enter a card to get the word out about Autism.

What is Black & White & ONE other Colour? The Challenge at SOS

Challenge # 348 at Shopping Our Stash is ~~ Black and White and one other colour. Oh the possibilities. I love black & white cards but usually team it with RED but today I really strayed from the norm. 

I haven't used this butterfly stamp in a long time, it's probably 15 years old and from a company that has been sold but a lot of their stamps are still available at The Frogs Whiskers.  There is a die that goes with the stamp but I chose to fussy cut it out.  The butterflies were stamped in versafine black and embossed in clear embossing powder before colouing with a single copic marker.  The long rectangle spellbinders dies are rarely out of the box but I used them for this image. Patterned paper was bought earlier this year at the local dollar + store. The yellow accent cardstock was a scrap from the file folder box. Ribbon although still available from Stampin'up has been in my ribbon box for many years.

Close up to how how I elevated three of the butterflies.

Semi-finished inside, I decided I was very low on some generic cards that can be used for multiple occasions, I think it would work as a Sympathy, thinking of you, get well and even a birthday card. I even think you could send it to a man.

Thanks for coming by today and I am so looking forward to see what you add to black and white to make a card for our challenge. Don't forget to head over to the Main Blog and see what extra colour the rest of the design team have used.

It's Saturday and time for a NEW Challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!!!

Another two weeks has flown by and February is just a ticking along as is our snowy weather. Here in SWO we have had negative 10 to -20 Celsius and snowflurries every day. It help when you have a bunch of crafting to do. The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge is G is for Galaxy!! I know I've said it before but some challenges SCARE me and this was one but I watched a few videos checked to see if I had some of the colours and set out to make a mess well not one but 4 messes.  The video I followed (although mine isn't as awesome as hers) is from the Craft Bunny.  I found it easy to follow and I think I achieved a galaxy background.

I do need more practice with the technique but this was one of the "fails" when I left the panels to watch the hockey game  and went back to them I was really liking this one. I used Cameo Coral cardstock I thought it highlighted the coral in the galaxy, then layered it on silver and on a black base. I chose a simple die cut...Shine which is from a pack of  10 dies. 

Here is a muted version of my galaxy background it was layered on So Saffron and Gold with the same small sentiment.

This is what I call a "fail" I love the background but detest the splotches of ink. I found a different video for this one and it was just using three colours of blue distress inks. Broken Glass, Salty Ocean and I used faded jeans but it could have called for Chipped Sapphire (on my list to buy) and of course the Black Soot and was very easy. Here is the video for this one.

Well that's all for now folks Don't forget to check out the AWESOME cards made by the rest of the design team just click HERE. I hope you will try this challenge it was a lot of fun and for me messy (I will give hubby heck for getting black soot on the towel)  

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #92 ~~~ J is for Jumble

Wow another two weeks has flown by and it's September already, beautiful days and cool nights. Well I`m not sure who`s brilliant idea for the challenge was but it sure had me in  a panic,  J is for Jumble or make a collage. To some the idea of collage is easy peasy but for me it was that "Deer in the headlights" look. I did have some help with it by following some very good pointers from a fabulous collage maker, Lauren.  So without further chit chat here it is.

One of my first Stampin'up stamps was the stippled rose and still one of my favourites.   The card talks for itself, Three scraps of paper one doily, some stick on lace and a fussy cut image which has a touch of wink of stella on it as well as some tiny blue gems dotted around.  The Hello was cut twice once in black and once in white shimmer paper and popped up as was the rose.

Close up of the Hello.

I don't seem to be able to see the sparkle but it's there

Since I decided this could be used for any occasion I left the inside blank.

Thanks for stopping by and check out the main blog and see what the rest of the design team have "jumbled" up.

Butterflies, Bees, Dragonflies, Ants What do they have in Common?

It's the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash!!! Challenge #313 is all about bugs we want you to use any insect/bug on your project that you want to. I love butterflies so that is what I wanted to use and in a very different (for me) colour. So here is what I made.

I used an unbranded butterfly die and the sketch from Cheerful Sketches.

The white enamel dots are from the Eyelet Outlet Store. 

I started out to make a  5  1/4 square card but as I was placing the oval on the finished card I realized the opening was in the wrong place and the sketch didn't work that way, so I cut the card at the fold and placed it on the 5 1/2 square base.  That shows I shouldn't be watching a good mystery movie while I put my card together. 

Close up of the die-cut.

I didn't put a sentiment or finish the inside as this is one of those "generic" cards to finish as it is needed.

I will be entering this in:

The Cheerful sketches Blog

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to check out the Main Blog and see what the rest of the design team have made.

Have a creative day!!